1. Field of the Invention
Recipients of blood and blood components risk acquiring infections from foreign biological organisms, either pre-existing in the blood at the time of collection or transmitted to the blood product during manipulation. Medical personnel who are in contact with collected human blood or clinical samples also have a significant chance of being exposed to potentially lethal blood-borne or sample-borne biological organisms. Blood components today are obtained from blood donors and frequently involve pooled lots, where one or more of the donors may be harboring a viral, bacterial or other infection. Since the blood or blood components are required to provide physiological functions in a mammalian host, normally a human host, these functions must not be impaired by the decontamination treatment of the biological composition. In addition, the blood or blood components may not be modified in such a way as to make them immunogenic which could result in an adverse immune response Finally, any treatment should not leave residues or products detrimental to the health of the host or such residues or products should be readily removable.
2. Description of the Prior Art
U.S. Pat. No. 4,327,086 describes the method for heat treating an aqueous solution containing human blood coagulation factor XIII. U.S. Pat. No. 4,321,919 proposes extracorporeal treatment of human blood with 8-methoxypsoralen (8-MOP). Hyde and Hearst, Biochemistry (1978) 17:1251-1257, describe the binding of two psoralen derivatives to DNA and chromatin. Musajo et al., Experientia (1965) XXI, 22-24, describe photo-inactivation of DNA-containing viruses with photosensitizing furocoumarins. U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,350,594, 4,348,283 and 4,350,156 describe filtration methods for selective removal of blood components based on molecular weight. U.S. Pat. No. 4,329,986 describes extracorporeal treatment of blood with a chemotherapeutic agent which is subsequently removed by dialysis. The July/August 1982 issue of Genetic Engineering News proposed the use of psoralens to sterilize "clinical or commercial reagents or instruments."
Some data showing substantial impairment of the biological function of certain enzyme proteins using furocoumarins are published in the scientific literature (see for example, Veronese, F.M. et al., Photochem. Photobiol. 34:351 (1981); Veronese, F.M. et al., Photochem. Photobiol. 36:25 (1982).